yer girl is still alive i was just schoolmaxxing + here are the 10 best books I read in 2025

what's up fam it's yer girl. I wanted to post this to give a life update so you know that I'm still alive. I managed to get out of the suburbs, which has always been my life goal. And I have been schoolmaxxing. I have been doing a lot of random stuff. For example, I wrote this article on a very obscure book I read. I am also considering starting a podcast soon. Sorry if you think podcasters are cringe, but I will be contributing to their population increase soon. 

I read 73 books in 2025. I wanted to make a list of the books I thought were the best in case y'all want bookmaxxing recommendations. I have chosen 10 of my favourite books and tried to cover different genres so that there's something for everyone here. 

1. The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson 

I actually read this whole trilogy this year and LOVED all three books, but I would also recommend this book as a standalone because it is quite beautiful and complete on its own. It's one of those fantasy books that doesn't involve any magic, but it involves extensive world-building. There are fictional countries with different languages, cultures, religions, governance systems, literary traditions, gender roles, etc. And Seth Dickinson has put so much effort into creating each one. It's so fun to immerse yourself in the geopolitics of this world. The protagonist is a brilliant savant from an island that has been colonized by an evil empire, but can she dismantle it by working within the system or is that a hopeless idea?

2. The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve by Stephen Greenblatt 

I had an obsession with Genesis this year, so I read Milton's Paradise Lost and a monograph about how the New England Puritans were influenced by the story of Adam and Eve called Inventing Eden by Zachary Hutchins. I gotta say I loved Greenblatt's book on how Adam and Eve went from having multiple interpretations to how it came to have a literal interpretation because of Augustine and Milton. Adam and Eve could have been allegorical figures, according to some Jewish commentators. They could have simply represented the reason and desire of a single person. However, Augustine interpreted Genesis literally and came up with the idea of Original Sin. Milton was influenced by this interpretation and it became the dominant one in our culture since then. Now we think of it as the only way to correctly interpret Adam and Eve's story. I would recommend reading the original story in Genesis before diving into this book because it's very short and you will see that it leaves a lot of room for asking questions. Greenblatt writes extensively about Augustine and Milton's personal lives and you will feel as if you know these people by the end of the book, and Milton's loneliness and marital problems will increase your appreciation of Adam and Eve's wholesome relationship in Paradise Lost before the fall and of Satan's loneliness and his jealousy at seeing Adam and Eve happy. Unforunately, I have not read Augustine's Confessions. But Greenblatt makes it sounds like he crashes out a lot in it so I mentally refer to it as Augustine's Crash Outs now and I will be reading it in 2026 to let y'all know what I think!!!!

3. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy

I gotta warn y'all that this is considered one of the saddest novels ever written. I adored it and I think it is one of my favourite novels now, but my heart has also been absolutely destroyed. It criticizes education, marriage, gender roles, parenting, and religion. It was so controversial in 1895 that people burned copies of it. I don't wanna give spoilers, but this book turned me into a marriage abolitionist even though I've never even been remotely close to being one before (literally never throughout my life). If you want to read about how education keeps out some of the smartest people because of class discrimination, and about marriage is done more to avoid social stigma than because people love each other, and if you want to become absolutely doompilled and hopeless and depressed then I recommend this book. It was very beautifully written and I genuinely believe tragedy is the highest art form. Also I have another ultra sad book on my shelf right now, The Sorrows of Young Werther, and I will get to that in 2026. Pray for yer girl I will probably be languishing. 

4. The Language Warrior's Manifesto by Anton Treuer 

As I have mentioned on this blog before, I am a non-Indigenous learner of Anishinaabemowin. Ninanda-gikendaan ji-anishinaabemoyaan. Gaawiin anishinaabe ndaawsii. Aapiji niminwendaan o'ow mzin'igan. I have no doubt that Anishinaabemowin will have more speakers in the future, even though it is an endangered language right now. Treuer talks about how this can be done. He wants to move past simply making people memorize word lists in Indigenous language classes for learning things like animals, numbers, or colours. Instead, he wants speakers to be not only fluent but creative. He envisions a world where Anishinaabemowin children's books are not just translations of English stories or bilingual books for second language learners, instead they should be fully in Anishinaabemowin and have culturally-relevant messages. And of course he thinks there should be Anishinaabe literature available for all ages. He talks about his personal life and how this can not be separated from his language journey and I am sure you'll find this very moving and inspiring, especially how he aims to make sure that all his children are fluent speakers. 

Also just to be clear, I'm sure you'll love this book if you care about endangered language revitalization in general, not just for Anishinaabemowin. And if you don't, then it's even more important for you to read this. 

5. Imaginary Maps by Mahasweta Devi 

 Perhaps this is the most problematic book on this list, only because it talks about the Indigenous Adivasi communities of India and the author is not actually from these communities (I could not tell you which community the stories in this book would be the most applicable to as a major flaw of this book is that it homogenizes them!!!!) However, to defend this choice a little, I will say it does an excellent job of criticizing the Indian state, or perhaps the concept of a nation state in general. You can see that it is only able to survive through exploitation of Gond and Santal people and other such communities as most of India's electricity is generated on their land. Resources are extracted from communities that are not fairly compensated for them (Sounds just like Canada or Russia too). There is one story in here about a reporter who sees a pterodactyl in the jungle, and the pterodactyl is a metaphor for knowledge so ancient that he can not even be able to comprehend it, and of course this knowledge precedes the state. I will say this book gave me a lot to ponder about and that's why I think it should be on this list.

6. The Shape of Sex: Nonbinary Gender from Genesis to the Renaissance by Leah DeVun

The subtitle is extremely misleading as this book is actually about intersex people, not nonbinary people. But it was still incredible. I think having the phase where I was obsessed with Genesis was what drew me to this book, as it does talk about the interpretation of Adam as possessing characteristics of both sexes before Eve is separated from his body and they become two distinct people. Intersex characteristics are associated both with demons and angels in the Middle Ages. The theological discourse around them affected how real people were treated (most obviously when it came to nonconsensual surgery on intersex people). It is horrifying to think that these nonconsensual surgeries still continue all around the world. We have literally learned nothing and that's probably what most horrified me about this book even though I think it is a very important topic for the author to write about 

7. Shakespeare's Sonnets

I loved the experience of reading all 154 of these together rather than reading them as standalone poems, because some of them are like series of sonnets that relate to each other (the reproduction sonnets, the horse and rider sonnets, the fair youth sonnets, the dark lady sonnets, etc.). I literally cried over some of these. These were not the only sonnets I read this year, as I also read Sidney's Astrophil and Stella, but nothing can top Shakespeare's sonnets. I read Venus and Adonis a few years ago, and I have not read the Rape of Lucrece, but in 2026 I might make it a point to read it as I would like to read more of Shakespeare's poetry (and honestly Venus and Adonis is worth a re-read! I realllyyy liked it last time I read it). 

8. AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What it Can't, and How to Tell the Difference

Now I'm no technology understander, and I lowkey wish I lived in the 1500s sometimes. However, this book is pretty easy to understand even if you are medievalbrained. The authors are computer science professors but they try to make this accessible for people. They tell you why the existential threat of Artificial General Intelligence may actually be overhyped, and that the most dangerous thing about AI is what humans are going to do with it, or what humans with bad intentions and who have power are already doing with it. You will learn why artificial intelligence is terrible for trying to predict the future (whether a criminal will continue committing crimes, if a condition will develop into a more serious disease, if a student's performance will improve, etc.) You will also learn why humans should probably be involved in social media content moderation and it shouldn't just be left to AI to make those decisions as they do not understand human culture. I will certainly be reading more on AI in 2026, especially the ethics of it.

9. All the Horses of Iceland by Sarah Tolmie 

Just a gorgeous historical novella that's impossible to put down, and the kind of thing I hope I'll write someday as it's my dream to write historical fiction. Eyvind of Eyri does not believe that his early tenth-century world is very complicated, even as many of his fellow Icelanders convert to Christianity and forget the old ways. According to him, the world is simply composed of humans, animals, ghosts, and luck. I love how simple and straightforward he is as a character, and also how he believes farming is the most noble profession and his dream is to own a farm!! When the Khazar adventurer David presents Eyvind with the opportunity to travel across the known world, Eyvind sees many things he doesn’t understand, like the nameless a nameless white mare who's bewitched. The message seems to be that magic cuts across all cultures, but only Eyvind seems to be smart enought o see this even though he's so humble. 

10. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius 

I read this because my based bigbrained chad sigma stoic boyfriend likes this book uwu. The idea of “Reason” being like your inner god and something that no one can disturb or take from you was very powerful. No matter what the circumstances are, you still have your reason. Before reading this, I had the mistaken notion of Stoics as isolating themselves from the world. I thought that in order to avoid being carried away by their emotions, they must avoid socializing or it would cause them to form attachments to people. But Marcus Aurelius actually preaches love, compassion, and community, as long as you don't form attachments that make you forget that you have Reason, or logos, or free will, purpose, an inner light... however you want to think about that. I should read more philosophy. Also, I swear he gives advice that sounds like my dad sometimes. And my dad studied Sanskrit. So I wonder if there's a school of thought in Indian philosophy that's actually very similar to Stoicism? Also I want to read Epictetus, as Marcus Aurelius admires him a lot and mentions him in this book. 

Honourable Mention: What the Chicken Knows by Sy Montgomery

And lets end off on something extremely silly, but lowkey kinda based. Yer girl had plans to start a chicken farm but that didn't pan out. Nevertheless, this book reminds me that I will never give up on my dream! If you're a hater, just know that I'm sure you'll be paying premium prices for organic eggs from my farm one day lmao. Anyway, chickens have a lot of instincts we don't understand like pecking aggressively at the sight of blood. They are also affectionate to their owners. Roosters are protective of their flocks and can warn others of danger. These are just some incredible facts about them. And I will continue reading about nature and creatures in 2026.

What is Snekcoatl going to read in 2026?????

• More fantasy because I loved the Masquerade trilogy!!! I'll be checking out some of R.F. Kuang's novels, as well as the Dune books and LOTR.
• More nineteenth-century fiction because I loved Jude the Obscure and Great Expectations! I would really like to read Dracula, as well as books by Austen and the Bronte sisters.
• More books by Anishinaabe authors because I liked Moon of the Turning Leaves by Waubgeshig Rice. Leanne Betasamosake Simpson and Louise Erdrich will be next.
• More nonfiction books about India for tradmaxxing purposes. The Argumentative Indian by Amartya Sen sounds great, as does The Burning Forest: India's War in Bastar by Nandini Sundar.
• More Shakespeare of course!!!
• More philosophy, probably Plato's dialogues.
• More nonfiction about nature, creatures, and ecology. Give recs if you know about CREATURES, I don't really know where to start.
• More historical fiction. I also want to write more of it :)
• More nonfiction on AI such as AI Morality by David Edmonds and Brave New Words by Salman Khan

To all the bookmaxxers out there, whether you are a giganerd or just getting into reading, and whether you plan to read philosophy books or manga in 2026, I wish you the best of luck with your bookmaxxing goals!! Bye, fam!!!

Is the grinch a liberal or a conservative?

Okay guys don't cook me for being late with this post. I know that the holiday season has passed and that would have been a better time for grinchposting. But I can't stop thinking about him (the grinch). He literally lives rent-free in my head, and I think it is time to talk about him. 

(Here is my artistic rendition of a girl with the grinch and a wooly mammoth in the background!!!!!!!!!!!)

So as y'all probably know, the grinch is a dr. seuss character. He's in the movie "how the grinch stole christmas." Also, in winter 2024-2025, it is now more important than ever to talk about him. This is because he is very trendy right now, and there are complex socioeconomic reasons for this! 

You see, the grinch movie and grinch toys/grinch merch are usually marketed towards very young children. But now this is changing. Grinch merch is now very popular among teenagers and young adults. As a person in my early twenties, I understand the reasons for this. The holiday season is no longer cheerful for people. It was once a time when people would spend time together with their families. However, we are now facing a loneliness epidemic. Some people call this the "male loneliness epidemic." But this is inaccurate because it does not exclusively affect men. All genders and age groups are affected by it. 

People now have fewer friends on average than previous generations did as well as less contact with their family. People are now on their sigma grindset 24/7 in order to succeed in their education or career. Or sometimes it is even just to make ends meet with a min wage job. All this grinding leaves them with no time to spend on building meaningful relationships with people, which is important for stress reduction and other mental health reasons. Having fulfilling relationships extends your lifespan!! 

If you have no friends, it's like smoking 192 cigarettes a day. I made up that number, but you get the idea.

Yes, it is true that some people need less socialization than others and enjoy their solitude. But there are others who crave connection and are unable to find it in the modern age. All this brings me to Mr. Grinch. No matter how hard he copes, we can all tell that he craves human connection. The reason why he can't connect to people is because the Whos were very cruel to him during his childhood. They bullied and ostracized him. Now he has a fear of vulnerability and of connecting to others.

You may also be wondering about the grinch's political views. I will get to that in a second. First, have some knee surgery memes. 

Okay, so I was discussing this issue with a fren who is very smart and has studied politics. I asked him if he thinks the grinch is a liberal or a conservative. He said he thinks the grinch is a conservative. His justification was that the grinch is a misanthrope, and borderline an INCEL. Or, if you are following my attempts to learn the Ojibwe language, he is like gwiingwa'aage (the wolverine) in that one story retold by Basil Johnston where he is ungrateful for the gifts that Gichi-Manitou (the Creator) has bestowed upon him so he gets cursed to wander the earth alone and be shunned by other creatures. You can read more about the Wolverine Mindset in this post I wrote: https://freyathefrypan.blogspot.com/2024/12/wolverines-are-most-relatable-animal.html

However, even tho i respect my fren and i think he is a big-brained individual, I disagree that The Grinch is a conservative. I think my fren is being biased because he's a lib. He is doing a very surface-level reading of the Grinch and he is not being generous to this character. Furthermore, the Grinch is NOT an incel!!! If you've actually seen the movie, a beautiful woman has a huge crush on him for basically her entire life. 

I think it would be more accurate to say that the Grinch is scared of people, not that he hates them. He's scared because he was bullied by them as a child. Furthermore, he goes against tradition. He literally tries to steal Christmas. So how can he be a conservative if he defies tradition? And his reasons for opposing the tradition is not just to spite the Whos. It's because he believes Christmas is unethical and excludes people. It excluded him. Also, he thinks Christmas is bad for the environment. If you recall, all the presents that the Whos get end up as garbage. They are disposed eventually, because the Whos are a consumerist society and they don't care about how this affects the environment. All the trash is collected by the grinch and reused/recycled. Most conservatives do not even think climate change is real or that is possible to harm the environment. So how can the grinch be a conservative???

Also, he's not a sadistic character. He has empathy. Sure, he kind of needs his dog to remind him to be nice to people. But he doesnt ignore his dog. And he saved a little girl's life!!

I personally blame the Grinch's society more than the Grinch for his conditions. Also, he turns out to be a good guy in the end and he is forgiven. 

This is all I have to say on this for now. This says a lot about society. What do you think?

Also, shoutout to the fren who gave me a grinch-themed box of skincare products for christmas. This proves my point about grinch stuff now being marketed to young adults instead of children because young adults find him more relatable now than they used to because of cultural and economic reasons.

The Best Yule Gifts for the Historian in your Life

Hello, fellow wannabe historians and Merry Yule! Those of you who know me well will understand why I avoid saying Merry Christmas. To me, Christmas is just... well... too Christian. Since Christianity was a religion that was violently forced on indigenous people, I avoid celebrating the holiday the Christian way. I do support saying "Happy Holidays" though, to be more inclusive of other religions. I also support the pagan Yuletide celebrations which celebrated the winter solstice before Christianity was around. The tradition of the Yule tree (Christmas tree) has been preserved since the ancient Germanic Yulefest. And of course, I'm an excellent gift giver (and gift receiver). So, I've decided to make this post about gifts that you can give to the historian (or wannabe historian) in your life. This list should come in super handy if you have obsessive history friends in your life.

Antique Maps and Globes 

Henricus Hondicus 1630  map print

Some of us like to daydream of world domination. That is why we tend to hoard maps and globes to plot out our ascent to power. As John Green once said on Crash Course world history, a historian can never have too many globes. We also love maps, which are just as special to us but which you may consider giving as a cheaper gift. Colored antique maps are quite beautiful, and you can frame them to make the perfect gift item. Look for ones with drawings of ships and sea monsters in the oceans, random Latin phrases inscribed in the borders, etc. I recommend the Henricus Hondius map from 1630, you can easily get a print of it or buy it online. 

Cosplay Supplies 

  

We're really picky when it comes to cosplay items, so make sure you do a bit of research on this before hand. We like historical accuracy, so don't get us a horned helmet. Also try to stay away from cultural appropriation. Lets say you're going to get beaded moccasins for a follower of this blog. I'm sure they'd love the gesture, if you buy them from an authentic indigenous artisan and not some shady "made in China" ones. A woolen Viking cloak would be perfect for staying warm this Yule and we historians do think it's a shame that people don't wear cloaks anymore. Check out the Kult of Athena site for great deals on weapons.

Books

Books are definitely the best present ever, no matter who you're gifting, so of course they'd be well suited for a historian. We tend to stick to traditional books rather than to ebooks, and we like to hoard aesthetically pleasing volumes on the shelves of our libraries. I highly recommend buying from the Folio Society, which the books in the above photo are from. They republish popular books on  a variety of subjects and give them glorious aesthetic covers, so that they look perfect to present to your favourite historian on Yule. What would a historian be without their books? I highly recommend checking out the Mexica movement recommended books list . 

Also, who says historians don't like fiction? Yule is a great time to curl up near a fireplace and read feelsy historical fiction set in your favourite time period, with epic battle scenes and romance. Check out this list of best historical fiction compiled by Goodreads readers for some great suggestions. This isn't to imply that nonfiction is devoid of feels though. All history contains feels. 

A classic political text is also a fantastic gift, especially one that may have changed the flow of history, like the Communist Manifesto or Mein Kampf. Perhaps you will inspire your seemingly peaceful historian friend to write their own manifesto and take the world by storm. 

Chocolate 

So yeah, I've already mentioned wannabe-historians tend to be sensitive and have a lot of feels. We can also hold grudges for over 500 years. We really need something to help us calm down. Chocolate is great for this purpose. Try making spicy Aztec hot chocolate as a thoughtful gesture using this great recipe .

Jewelry 

A vegvisir representing the 4 directions with a border of Norse runes

mjolnir, or thor's hammer. Typically worn by Norse pagans and/or Marvel fans.

The iron cross: not always a nazi thing

A mjolnir pendant? An iron cross? Many historians long for the restoration of an ancient pagan faith, a fallen empire, or a lost way of life. The jewelry we wear often has a deep, special meaning to us which is why it is literally worn so close to our hearts. Jewelry shopping is never cheap, but you can check Etsy for some good deals. Remember to get creative and aesthetic. The Viking enthusiast in your life probably already has a ton of Thor hammer pendants lying around, so why not switch things up with a sterling silver Icelandic vegvisir?  For Inca enthusiasts, I recommend chakana pendants. 

Flags and other heraldic symbols

Self-explanatory. We're the type of people who would wear flags as capes.

See, I give great advice? I'm sure your historian friend is very glad that you support them.